Noteboom, who had led Yahoo's data center operations since 2005, is now a "distinguished gentleman" at Apple, according to his LinkedIn profile. The job change was first reported by GigaOm.

He will likely be tasked with prepping Apple's servers as it ramps up its iCloud and iTunes push. Noteboom was the chief architect and founder of Yahoo's "data center self construct / operate initiatives," according to a conference bio on Noteboom.

"He also managed over 10x growth of the companies data center / compute operating footprint, leading teams that installed and support multi hundred thousand hosts. Scott's duties include managing all aspects of the data center lifecycle-- from design, construction, operations, to de-commissions," it said.

Apple has spent reportedly $1 billion to build a 500,000-square-foot behemoth of a data center in Maiden, N.C., which some have begun calling the "orchard." Apple hasn't said how it will use the server farm, but there is speculation that it will power the cloud services that Apple is working on, according to numerous sources.